The Future Shape of Christian Proclamation: What the Global South Can Teach Us about Preaching

Christianity is turning brown and moving south. The Christianity the West has known is in recession and has all but dwindled out of recognition in the opening years of the twenty-first century. Well over half of the world’s Christians now live in the Global South—Africa, Asia, and Latin America. They are, according to Aberdeen missiologist Andrew Walls, the new Representative Christians. What they think about Christianity will matter more and more and what North America thinks about Christianity will matter less and less. This massive shift in geography and theological point of departure will have a major impact on Christian preaching now and into the future. The Future Shape of Christian Proclamation seeks to begin the conversation about how preaching in the Global South will inform the whole of Christian preaching in the coming years.

Cleophus J. LaRue is the Francis Landey Patton Professor of Homiletics at Princeton Theological Seminary. He specializes in the theory and method of African American preaching.

Luiz C. Nascimento is Professor of Religion and Society at Seminario Teologico Batista de Nordeste, Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brazil.